Masovian Metrica

Masovia
formed in the last centuries of the first millennium as the separate
historical region on the area of the central and north-east Poland.
The main settlement were the lands on the right bank of Vistula and
the basin of the Narew River as well as on the Lower Bug. Here sprang
up the oldest towns of Masovia, which were built in the time similar
times as the oldest towns of the early medieval Greater Poland.
Masovia was included in the Piast Gniezno country in the second part
of 10th
century1.
From the turn of 10th
and 11th
centuries there are dynamic changes in Masovia; new towns appear;
import enlarges; economy recovers, near the towns concentrate trade
and craft activities. After the death of Mieszko I this district was
a part of Bolesław Chrobry’s country and then Mieszko II. At the
time of crisis of the monarchy of the first Piasts, Masovia despite
twelve years of independence did not initiate its own country, that
is why near the other territories became a part of the country
rebuilt by Casimir I the Restorer. As a result of “the last will of
Wrymouth” Masovia together with Kujawy fell to Bolesław the Curly
and after his death (1173) this territory received his under-age son
Leszek duke of Masovia and then included into his Duchy Casimir the
Just. After the death of this monarch (1194) Masovia passed into the
possession of his youngest son, Konrad I, who began a hereditary line
of Piast Masovia lasting until 1526. Masovia divisions in the 14th
and 15th
centuries created within the district several independent small
principalities, with its own clerical hierarchy. In 1352 Mazovia
Piasts paid tribute to King Casimir the Great. However, after the
death of this monarch (1370) Masovia happened again to be independent
of the Polish Crown. From the second half of 14th
century a marked economic development of the district occurs. Masovia
(located in the central basin of the Vistula River and its
tributaries), benefited from booming economy for forest products and
agriculture, which were connected with the development of transit
time in the role of the port of Gdansk and other cities of the
Teutonic Order. In the 14th
century a special attention deserve achievements of the prince
Siemowit III, especially in terms of economic and political system,
expressed, among others, rural locations in Chelmno law, immunity
dissemination and increased demand on the part of the document from
the side of lay audience. One can also notice significant progress in
the work of the prince’s office, which draws patterns of royal
office, as well as from Silesia, Bohemia and Hungary. Although during
the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty Masovian rulers were Polish
vassals, but still stayed independent in internal policies. Since
the 15th
century an increasingly important role in Masovia played princely
council (modeled on the crown) territorial local authorities, the
judiciary, legislative and financial matters. Among the Masovian
princes many outstanding rulers can be found, some of them were even
candidates for the throne of Poland (Siemowit IV, Boleslaw IV). Dukes
of Mazovia were also distantly related with Giedyminowicze,
Przemyślidzi and the Habsburgs. An important role in relations with
its neighbors played the daughters of the dukes of Masovia, who
married off local dynasts. Among the daughters of Masovian Piasts a
significant role played Cymburgis (daughter of Siemowit IV), mother
of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg. After the death of childless
Western princes of Masovia (1462), part of Masovia was incorporated
to the Crown. Other Masovian lands were included in the Polish
Kingdom in the years 1495-1526. Upon completion of the incorporation
process and arrangement of the course of borders Masovia with other
Crown lands Masovia area was 33,493 km². This territory was divided
into three different sizes of provinces: Plock, Rawa and Masovian.

Duke’s
office in Masovia (14th-15th
c.) fulfilled the functions of one of the most important organs in
the administrative system of the power. These included cooperation in
the management of the duchy in the field of home affairs and foreign
relations and in terms of editing and writing off legal actions. The
office also carried out of a perpetual books and records of a
temporal (documents to the county and lease), the court books and
fiscal court books.

Book
entries (libri
inscriptionum)
of Masovian Metrica were introduced during the reign of Siemowit III
(died in 1381), but it was just the beginning of the recording. From
the second half of the 14th
century no traces of the existence of this type of books were
preserverd, a number of Masovian documents increased significantly
only at the end of this century. Entries in the Registry (defined as
Metrica
seu regestrum perpetuitatum terrestrium Ducatus Masovie,
survived until the first quarter of the 15th
century until the incorporation of Masovia to the Crown in 1526 we
have 21 books (conducted exclusively in Latin2.
The
oldest recording covered the years 1414-1425 (MK 3), i.e. times of
Janusz I. Whereas the most recent entries in the Records, conducted
on behalf of Janusz III, and later his sister Anne, by Chancellor
Nicholas Zhukovsky (MK 41), dated back to August 1526. From the
preserved books only 19 are appropriate book entries. The other two
are of distinctive characteristics. First of them (MK 1) contains a
copy of the statutes of Masovia already made in the office of the
Crown in 1532, while the second (MK 7) are the bills of a court of
prince Janusz II from the years 1477-1490. In the preserved Records
there are also materials of a different nature, for example fragments
of the books of the manor court from the years 1511-1517 and
1521-1526. It should also be mentioned that the book MK 8, comprising
various entries of dukes of Masovia from the years 1471 to 1526, was
written after incorporation of Masovia to the Crown. The book MK 2
contains in its first part (p. 20-95), a collection of fourteen and
fifteenth earthly statutes translated into Polish. There are also
parts of the Records of Masovia in Warsaw court records3.
In
contrast, little snippets from the documents of the Records are known
from the books of Liv courts had been destroyed in 19444.

For
Eastern Mazovia (Czersk-Warsaw principality) preserved the Records
from 1414 to 1526, but with gaps for the years 1455-1467 and
1508-1517. This does not indicate, however, that during these Records
were not conducted, as we know from the documents issued on the basis
of the entries in the Records. Books MK 3 and 4 are copies made in
the second half of the fifteenth century. For Western Mazovia (Plock
principality) books preserved from the times of Władysław I and his
sons (1434-1462), and the princes (Conrad III, Casimir III, Boleslaw
V and Janusz II ) ruling in Masovia on the area of Plock to 1495.
i.e. the time of incorporation of the duchy to the Crown. Some books
of Records consist of several parts bound in one volume, for example
MK 5 contains entries (records) from the year 1471 (governments of
sons of Boleslaw IV), in the years 1471-1481 (Casimir III and
Boleslaw V) and 1471-1488 (Conrad III governments in the district
Czersk-Liw). For the last chronologically fair copy volumes MK 32
and 41 we also know their drafts (MK 339-341). The preserved Records
there are also books or materials of a different nature, for example
fragments of the books of the manor court of years 1511-1517 and
1521-1526.

As
for the entry form (recordings) in Masovian Record, they are those,
for the most summary records, that relate to legal activities and
entries of the documents in
extenso.
The entries in the subjective form, in which the prince is said to be
in the first person, and objective, in which the prince is mentioned
in the third person. Initially, the two are alternate, but in the
second half of the fifteenth century prevails the objective form and
in the sixteenth century it is already becoming the rule. Preserved
recordings in the Record is the most short records of legal actions
taken by the prince or in his presence, which focus on trade in land.
Entries were made in an abbreviated form, including the issuer (the
abbreviated title or alone name), promulgation (limited e.g. to the
word significamus),
abstract features, dating and a list of witnesses. A complete record
of legal activities was omitted to save space and write speed.
Entries were then a basis for the on-demand document pages.
Therefore, entry to the Record was ahead of issuing the document. The
basis ingrossatio
if
the diploma was, in terms of content, the note of the Record that was
easy to be put in the appropriate formula. Release of the document
was not necessary. To make them easier for clerks to find, the
entries to the Record were provided with titles, though some of them,
however, are of the latter origi. Also, in order to facilitate
reaching the appropriate entries, there were marked the beginning of
a new year or a new chancellor office. Date of sealing the documents
was noted in bold. We also see in the Record documents (few) of other
exhibitors, entered in
extenso.

Entries
in Metryka can be divided into on matters disputed and undisputed,
and the latter to eternal or temporal. In some books (including Plock
Register from the years 1432 to 1462), mixing entries and temporal
registers can be stated. Later, however (apart from a few exceptions)
were found in the Masovia Record unified nature of records on the
register, and the inadvertent placement of temporal activity record
was noticed by writers. This shows that the Record was carried out
carefully, following-to-date nature of the entries and noting the
occurred errors. Some preserved entries on, among others, present
activities, documents on the county and lease or princely debts,
suggest that the office not only thought of specialization of
records, but also was carrying a book containing temporal entries
that were not preserved. For example, we may use the mentioned MK
Volume 7, which includes calculations of court of Janusz II. The book
was initially led by Chancellor Peter Chodkowski (up to 1481) and
later by the vice-chancellor Stanislaus of Lipie.

As
for the territorial division, it is strictly only for entries in the
MK 2 exclusively for the period of the Wyszogrod land from the time
of holding it by Conrad III (1474-1488). These entries were lead by
Wyszogrod writer John Cielecki, which ended his work after the
acquisition of the land by the Duke Janusz II in 1488. From the
Wyszogrodzk Record were sometimes issued documents, as evidenced by
marginal notes:
exivit
or littera
scripta exivit.
Keeping separate register was due probably to the special position of
the Wyszogrod, that in 1471 fell to Casimir III, and then, as a
result of failure to repay the loan by the Duke, passed into the
hands of Conrad III.

In
the Office of Masovia there is also a situation where were conducted
in parallel two registers in the name of the same prince. After the
purchase in 1475 by Janusz II the principality Plock (Plock, Wizna
and Zawkrze land) from Casimir III the former chancellor Racibor of
Golejewo still continued to lead the Plock Register. However, with
the change of ruler in the office of Plock writers were hired who
worked in the office of Janusz II. Keeping a separate register (Plock
Record) were probably due to the fact that when the duchy of Plock
was joined to the district sons Boleslaw IV, the territory retained
some autonomy, which was the price to pay for the support given by
the princes of the bureaucratic elite in their conflict with the
Polish king. Racibor of Golejewo, who retained after 1462 the office
of chancellor, was an influential person in the court of Ladislaus I
(1449-1455) and his sons (1455-1462). At the same time Peter
Chodkowki, court chancellor of Janusz II (from 1471) led the metric
for Ciechanów, Lomza and Makowsko-Różański land. The reason for
the inclusion of Plock registers to the ciechanowsko-Lomza registers
in 1481 was not a top-down decision of duke Janusz II, but the death
of the chancellor Racibor of Golejewo. The specificity of the
prince's office in Masovia was carrying out by the same chancellor of
the parallel (1471, with a break of several months in 1478) Records
for the two princes: Boleslaw V and Janusz II. Although the office
staff was shared (chancellor, vice-chancellors, writers), however,
retains the distinct entries and each mistake tried to fix quickly,
that is why we have maintained separate volumes of Records for the
Duchy of Warsaw (Boleslaw V) and Ciechanow and Lomza area (Janusz
II). It should also be mentioned that in Masovian Record activities
relating to the territories that do not fall properly in the Masovia
were recorded, namely Belz land (owned by the Dukes of Plock in
1388-1462), and seized temporarily Podlachia (1440-1444).

Thanks
to the surviving books of Records the mode of work carried out in the
office of the duke can be accurately found. Recorded operations in
them that took place in the presence of the ruler. When the office
worker assisted,he noted the case, preparing a concept document or
immediately the entry to the book. Where, in the legal action there
was not one of the clerks, then passed the information to the
registry of the witnesses or special envoys. A formula of relation is
therefore of important meaning for a better understanding of labor of
law office5.
In
Record it occurs below the text entry (on the right side of the
reader), as amended, among others, relacio,
ad relacionem
with giving an appropriate name. In the books of Masovia Record
formula of relation appeared later than in the office of the king. In
Plock Record it did not occur until 1462, while in the office of the
princes Czersk-Warsaw begins to appear around 1440. After taking
Plock by the rulers of the Duchy of eastern Masovia Plock Register
(1462-1471) still did not meet the relationship, which shows that the
local law office retained its individuality. After the division of
Masovia in 1471 in the office of Plock (of Casimir III) and
Ciechanów-Lomza (of Janusz II) relation is very rare, and in the
office of Warsaw (of Boleslaw V) quite often, especially during
chancellery of John Radzanowski (1478)6.
In Czersk Record formula is present throughout the period of the
reign of Conrad III, as well as at the beginning of time after his
death. This is followed by a longer pause, and the relation returns
since 1517. We meet it usually at the records of princely activities
and exceptions are not numerous. The formula of the present officials
secretarial assistants: most frequently chancellor7,
vice-chancellor, secretaries and writers (rare). There are also
people outside the office (of the highest officials by rank up to the
courtiers). Speakers most often appear as witnesses in entry of the
Record, and therefore the legal action. It may be noted that there
appear officials in the records for a given territory in relations.
It must therefore be assumed that the relation formula indicates the
person who provided the information to the office of legal action
entered into Record. It was about the origin of the registration and
administration of the person (speaker), who took responsibility for
them. Responsibility of people outside the office was different than
princely clerks. In contrast, that relation refers to the first phase
of office work provides frequent accidents, when the original text of
a formula involving relations, amendments were made. The next stage
was of the office works was a registration command, since the time of
ingrossare
in the Masovia Record meant "register" rather than "issue"
a document. Prince gave registration order, the chancellor or
vice-chancellor8.

In
the princely Record survived not only single concepts, but also the
entire records of concepts, according to which were made book
entries. On the basis of the Record can also be provided the basis
for issuing the document that was just posting chronological, not the
preserved minute. The first step on the way to the creation of the
document was to command the issue, referred to in the Record by the
word scribatur,
usually accompanied by an explanation of how this activity is to be
made, e.g. scribatur
ius Culmense in forma communi.
Sometimes it was indicated that the date and witnesses refer to an
earlier time9.
There
are also commands of not making out a document or releasing it only
after the fulfillment of certain conditions. It was the result of
protests followed by others, presenting objections to the content of
transactions entered into the Record. The entry could also be simply
canceled, what the chancellor10made
himself or one of the writers on his command11.
The
order cancellation is often overlooked by the prince himself, as
evidenced by phrases: de
mandato domini ducis Johannis cassatum et annulatum; deletum est ad
mandatum ducisse.

Annotations
in the Record show the important role played by chancellor in the
control of entries, not only directly (by hand-patch), but also
indirectly, by recommending adjustments to others. We know, among
others, personal annotations and fragments of texts revised
personally by chancellors (Peter Chodkowski12,
Nicholas of Mniszewo13).
On the basis of the entries in the Record documents were issued. The
issuance of a document on the basis of an entry in Record was
informed by posting to an entry the phrases: exivit,
littera scripta exivit,
or by crossing the characteristic entry (other than in the case of
cancelled). In the office of Janusz I and Boleslaw IV used the
deletion, while in the office of the Western princes of Mazovia
alternately exivit
deletion or note, being placed on the left of the entry. This system
continued after 1462, when part of the heritage of Plock fell to sons
of Boleslaw IV, although in the Czersk office of Conrad III (after
1471) also used crossings, and exivit
was given in all caps, bold writing under the entry. In the office of
Janusz II at the time of vice-chancellery by Stanisław Leipzig
(1481-1495) exivit
was placed with a small writing in the margins. Near the entries
were also placed endorsements about payment of a fee (solvit
notam)
or arrears with it (tenetur
notam),
which rarely treated as a sum.

In
a study of the dukes of Masovia law offices in the late Middle Ages,
the essential meaning has the problem of legal relevance of the
Record. Its conduct was not only necessary for the proper functioning
of the principality, but also due to the existing in Masovian law
obligation to carry out a number of legal actions in the sight of the
prince. In the Record were recorded activities in which the ruler
himself was a party, and the activities carried out against him and
approved by him. In the latter case, the personal appearance of the
prince could be replaced by making a legal action before the
authorized representative, e.g. before an employee or officer of the
prince's office. If the judge or a writer were delegated, then it
shows that we are dealing with the process of creation of the
permanent representatives of the princely rule, and not only with
authorized officials acting under a single command. Acts undertaken
in the presence of the prince himself, but to the court, go to the
Record, e.g. on the basis of court records. In Masovia as early as in
the second half of the fourteenth century documents issued by the
court of the land were considered the official certificate. Over
time, the same legal significance also grew in court books and
extracts from them were used as a way of informing the ruler of made
legal activities. Proof of the books was sufficient for the prince to
issue a decision and then constituted the basis for drawing (based on
registration) a relevant document. It should be assumed that, entries
princely Record must had had legal significance equal to at least the
books of the court, competing even with the original documents, for
which we find confirmation in the first editorial, "Feint of
Prażmowski" from 1532 in the article about the statute of
limitations, which speaks of the lien which can be confirmed with
"land Record or privilege of the prince"14.
Therefore, the Masovian record, on the basis of which were issued
princely privileges, had the characteristics of public trust15.
Entries in the Record (like the books of court) gave the parties a
number of benefits, as impossible to hide the transaction before
relatives, facilitated the sellers calculation of the period of
antiquity, and the provided the buyer with disclosure of any charges
of given property and facilitated investigation of eviction.

In
the Record earlier records were invoked, e.g. in 1426 was entered the
action de
regestro antiquo
of 141716.
In
1461 Siemowit VI on the basis of the copy preserved in the books of
chancery, renewed the privilege of headman (in Głusko) issued in
142617.Also
in the district courts probative value of the district Record was
considered, as evidenced by preserved records of judicial record18.
A party before the court (1490) justified, for example, that lost a
document, but has a corresponding entry in the Record19.
From
the Record, therefore, were prepared extracts and office charged a
fee for it. For sealing extracts from the Record served princely
signet seal20.
We
know, among others, extracts from the books issued under the signet
of Boleslaw V in 1480 entered into the books of Zakroczym lands21;
document for the burghers of that prince of Warsaw 1483 provided with
the note Rescriptum
ex-regestro thesaurii privilegiorum domini ducis Boleslai sub signeto
ducali extraditum22;
a
mention of 1487 about copies issued de
Metrica serenissimi principis Ducis Boleslai sub signeto23;
extracts
from the Record under the signet seal of Conrad III retained in court
records24;
extracts of the Record from Stanislaus and Janusz III during the
regency of Anna Konradowa (authenticated by the seal of the signet
Conrad III)25
and Anna Konradówna governments26.
In July 1519 on the Masovian sejm in Zakroczym at the request of the
chancellor Nicholas Zhukovsky was established a seal to seal copies
of the Record (modeled on the signet seals used for extracts from the
books of court) with an eagle and the SMPT
inscription, that is Sigillum
Metricae perpetuitatum terrestrium27.
After the incorporation of Masovia to the Crown, extracts from the
Record were issued under the seal of the royal signet rings, as
evidenced by the formula: sub
signeto regio extraditum28.
The
establishment by King Sigismund I separate signet labeled S
M
(Sigillum
maiestatis)
with the image on the face of an eagle without a crown is the
evidence not only of the desire to placate the new subjects, but also
shows the importance that was attached to copies of the Record. On
21st
March 1539 Sigismund I (at the request of the nobility of Masovia)
issued a decree which established a way of making copies of the
Record under the bigger royal seal of the Masovia29.
On the same day the king declared the starosta of Wizna that sent his
chancellor Paul of Wola with the Record of former dukes of Masovia to
Warsaw, where for three months everyone would be able to claim an
extract from it, but after the six months the Record loses its
power30.
In the preserved Crown Record from the years 1539-1543 (MK 60), led
by chancellery of Paul Wolski, there are more than 280 copies of the
Record listed in the Book of Masovian Crown Record31.

In
Masovian Record were also reported important events related to the
functioning of the office. Provided were e.g. the date of assumption
of office by the chancellors or (in bold) information about their
death32.

After
the termination of the line of the incorporation and the dukes of
Masovia in the Polish Kingdom (1526) records of Masovian Record were
included in 1539 to the Crown Record.